MAMA 2017

5/12/17
It's been 5 years since I wrote this particular blog (below). A lot has changed, My once strong mother who was always active, mobile and energetic, now (after what seems a series of mini strokes) much to her displeasure must use a walker and be looked after.  My father, 7 years her senior likewise has become much less mobile. My sister Maggie (along with my brother Ralph) have taken the lead in their care with the rest of us pitching in as needed and able. There has been no arguments, no hard feeling, no "I did this, you need to do that" with our parents. Mom cared for us equally, how can we do anything less.

It's difficult to see your momma age and become dependent. She still tries to be a mother and continues to tell us to eat, put on a coat and other things all moms do. But the truth is, it is time for to let others look after her. 

It is also difficult for her. Unable to serve her children and grandchildren is a spear through her heart, which brings me to my point. Moms, real moms live for their loved ones. It give mothers no greater joy than to serve those they love. Sure it's nice to be pampered, but a mothers heart beats for her children, when that is curtailed through distance or illness, it beats a little less. 

If you mothers heart has recently begun to beat a little slower or has stopped all together, I urge you to take some time these next few days and bask in the memory of that once vibrant heart and give God thanks that it once beat enthusiastically for you!

2012
As mother day approaches, I thought I would say a few things about moms. Years ago for many of us, our moms stayed home and watched and waited hand over foot on their brood. Summers meant breakfast, cartoons, snack, play, lunch, play, snack, ride bikes, dinner and TV. Through it all mom was there to cater to all our desires.  But this is not about working or career moms or the virtues of stay at home moms. It’s just about moms and why they do what they do.  It is about why we went to mom when we scraped our knee instead of dad. Why restaurants are packed on mother’s day yet on father’s day we opt for hotdogs.

My daughter Esther is extremely creative. She writes (read her blog here - http://esthermarquis.blogspot.com/), she sews, she crafts, she’s an amateur photographer and in six months she will be an honest to goodness professional pastry chef.  Yet with all the things she does, nothing tugs at her heart more than children. One day she hopes to be a mom. (And that husband, better be right, cause there is no better catch).  As I write this blog she is looking to be an Au Pair for the summer - hopefully somewhere in Europe, all this to satisfy her desire to nurture and travel.  Why?

Growing up, I knew of not a single guy, who said to me,” I just want to be a dad.” Yet girls dream of it from a very young age. They hold dolls as boys blow things up. They push strollers as boys push each other. As we grow, our mothers continue to “mother” us. Hungry? Visit mom. Need encouragement? Visit mom. Want advice? Visit mom. Want someone to tell you, I told you so? Visit DAD!  I try to call my mom a couple of times a week. Sometimes my dad answers the phone; he says a few words and then says, “Here’s your mother.”  You see everyone knows that mom will always have some time for her kids, she will ask the right questions, will always encourage, and fight like a bear for you.

So it’s really quite simple, moms love is demonstrated by action which most of us witness day in and day out. They told us, that they loved us, but most importantly they showed us that they did.  Now not to discount dads, but for the most part, dads show their love by providing for us. Unfortunately, that provision often times channels itself through mom. So unless dad makes a conscious effort with his children, it’s easy for him to stay in the background, hence the hotdogs. (More on this in my upcoming father’s day blog).

Remember mom this weekend, someday she won’t be around and all you’ll have is your memories of her.

Be blessed